Virah steadily made her way down the stairs, her hands and legs still shook from the strain of doing so much physical work but she knew that if she didn't do this much, she wouldn't be able to do anything at all.

The stairs leading up to the first floor looked intimidating thanks to her tunnel vision but she faced her instinctual fears and slowly made her way down, one careful step at a time.

Virah raised a quivering foot, then she tightened her grip on the railing right next to her and pushed her body against it for support before slowly descending her foot, once her soles touched something, she sighed.

"O-okay, I only missed it by a few inches," she said as she put her toes away from the edge and into a proper foothold, "w-we're fine, things are fine,"

She sucked in a lungful of air and exhaled it, "I can do this,"

The journey to the floor was slow and painful, but she eventually managed to do it and upon stepping foot on the ground floor, the first thing that Virah did was to go to a bench so she could sit down and rest.

While resting, she checked the perimeter of the hallway around her to see if Whitney or Grene had arrived yet and when she saw that they haven't, she leaned her head back in relief, "thank Ho oh,"

She really didn't want her friends to see her being as weak as she is right now, and maybe, if she wasn't so stubborn when it comes to her recovery she could have taken the elevator instead of going down through 3 flights of stairs by herself but that won't help her, that'll just get her complacent.

Virah let out a sigh, at least now she'd have time to recover, she just hoped that Whitney and Grene would come after she could walk without falling down or something.

Virah waited for her strained muscles to stop aching before standing up and going to a vending machine, she got two fiber bars as well as a bottle of Milktank milk, one flavored with oran and cheri berries.

After that she went back to her original seat and started munching her light snacks down, 'fiber to make myself feel full, I've already had breakfast anyways,' Virah thought as she crushed one of the packets and placed it next to her legs, 'and lastly, Milktank milk for better recovery,'

It has been said that this particular brand of milk had healing properties and Virah couldn't help but agree with that fact.

'Its probably not as potent as Milk Drink though,' Virah thought with a satisfied hum.

Even if they came from the same source, the Pokemon move was powered up by Type Energy to boost its healing properties. Still, Virah thought that buying a few bottle of these things to give to her Pokemon after a tiring workout routine would be a good idea.

Virah stopped drinking and popped the bottle's cap back on, she once again checked the perimeter of the hallway as she opened her last fiber bars and saw that her friends still hadn't arrived.

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She finished her snack and spent a few minutes waiting for them, in the meantime, she grabbed her notes to write down her plans for her Pokemon's new training regime since just like her, they had also gotten sick and the current exercise they did with her friends was just that, exercise.

It wasn't meant to be taxing or to help them become more powerful, it was just meant to get them up to speed and help them get used to physical strain after their elongated stay in a Pokemon center.

Virah dropped her notes and hummed, 'I got nothing,' she would most likely need to check on her Pokemon's health first before she could write down something concrete but for now… 'let's assume that Nitro's weight went down by two kilos, that'll most likely affect his physical exertion, stamina, and his Type Energy output-'

She wasn't confident in writing down hypothetical scenarios and preparing for them but Virah thought that since she had the time to do it anyways, she might as well. It's not like she has anything better to do after all.

She had filled up to around half a page's worth of notes when her friends arrived but after that, she stopped brainstorming to greet Whitney and Grene, "hey,"

"Virah," Grene responded verbally followed by a nod, "I'm glad you could finally walk again,"

"Me too," Whitney's soft tone broke past the tension and Virah turned to the pinkette to see her putting up a strained smile, "we- we were really worried you know?"

"I know," Virah looked down in guilt.

Whitney not being as energetic as she was meant that the pinkette was both holding herself back from running forwards and just hugging Virah in concern- which is a good thing since Virah wasn't sure if she could survive getting her lungs crushed right now, - and at the same time, it also means that she had already expended her energy.

"How's Nitro and Jet?" Virah asked, pushing the conversation forward, "did they behave?"

"Mhmm." Grene nodded, "Nitro did everything I said without disobeying them and so did Jet,"

"Good," Virah nodded, "I was worried that they'll act out when being under the commands of a foreign trainer but I'm glad they didn't,"

"You trained them well," Whitney commended as she made her way next to Virah, the pinkette reached out and held Virah's hand, then, wordlessly, she went forward and hugged the green head.

Virah hugged her back, "hey, it's okay,"

"J-just let me stay like this for a while okay?"

"Okay,"

Virah made sure not to mention the sniffles that occasionally broke the ensuing silence.

When they broke the embrace, Whitney's face had cleared and she moved away from Virah to give her space.

The poison specialist hummed, "I can walk fine now by the way," she said as she pushed herself upward, she wobbled for a bit but quickly stabilized herself by placing her hand against the wall for support, she grinned, "see?"

"Is it fine for you to get out of here?" Grene said in concern, "I know you've been discharged but…"

"I'm- yeah, it's fine," Virah replied, "the hospital was supposed to help me with physical therapy for another month but I didn't want to waste anymore time delaying my circuit so…"

Whitney sighed, "it's fine if we delay things for another month you know?"

"I don't think so," Virah said, "and besides, the first two gyms we'll be fighting are in cities so it's fine if I go around and recover during this time,"

"Right, training Pokemon doesn't need you to physically exert yourself anyways," Grene chimed.

Virah nodded, "yeah, it's not as physically demanding as walking from city to city but it's also a good source of exercise,"

"Yep," Whitney nodded, "so uh, are we leaving now or?.."

Virah fixed up her hoodie and nodded, "let's go,"

Grene and Whitney kept staring at her as they made their way out of the hospital and their concerned looks didn't subside until they saw that she was more than capable of walking on her own.

"Isn't it painful?" Whitney suddenly asked.

"No, just tiring," Virah replied, "I get exhausted easily and that's it,"

"So your legs just feel tired?" Whitney asked.

"Yeah," Virah confirmed, "you just finished exercising right?" The pinkette nodded in response, "then my legs right now feel the same way as yours, a bit of an ache but nothing more than that,"

"Oh," Whitney looked down at her legs, "that's it?"

"Yeah," Virah nodded.

Truth be told though, it was more than "just a bit of an ache" and it was like her legs were burning from the inside out but she thought that Whitney didn't need to hear that kind of detail since that'll just cause the pinkette to force them all to take occasional breaks.

Virah didn't want them to slow down since they've already delayed their journey by a week so she kept it to herself, and besides, she oddly didn't feel like stopping despite the constant physical exertion anyways.

"I think it's weird," Grene said.

"What is?" Virah faced the martial artist.

"That you healed this quickly," she replied, "it's only been one week right?"

"Maybe I wasn't as sick as I thought I was," Virah replied with a shrug, "I did just finish the ranger's exam when I got infected so maybe that was why I was so weak? Because I didn't eat properly during that time?"

"Maybe," Grene said thoughtfully, she went silent before nodding moments later, "yeah I think it makes sense,"